A collective of artisan knitters, community partners and sponsors working together to warm northern kids.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Plentimawknitting and the Shelter in Iqaluit

So a couple of weeks ago, I got the message from a teacher in Arviat who heard us on the CBC and thought we might be able to send in some stuff for the kids at her school. Here are her words:

I observe the children shiver and shake when they enter school in the morning, their little hands red and their faces red from lack of protection from the wind and cold.

I checked the weather in Arviat today. Its -28 celsius. When she wrote me the message, it was -15 celsius.

To digress for a second: where I live (Ottawa), the main morning conversation in the elevators relates to weather:
"I heard the weekend's going to be rough."
"Low of -10 today and its only November."
"Its mitten time."
"Oh no, I forgot to put my mascara on." (ok that last one was me).
…and so it goes…

And I consider Ottawans to be pretty hardy stock. Minus 28 in November, compounded with the coming 24 hour cycle of darkness boggles my mind. Kids still need to play outside, though, so they play in the cold and dark, and your warm things will mean they can stay out a little longer.

So December 9th or around then, we are meeting with kalyle's friend from Iqaluit and she will arrange transport of your beautiful stuff to Arviat, and the teacher will arrange for distribution. I thought, "maybe we'll get a few items, then send another box later".

I think we've now got 2 medium size boxes worth of stuff worth of kids Grade 5 and under, and from what I see on Rav, more is on the way.

Life is sweet.

I named this post in honour of Plentimawfish from Waterloo, who has been part of Team Warm Hands for a long time now. She is prolific and her stuff is also beautiful Here is a photo our lovely model wearing one of her neck warmers:

This hat was sent in by the aforementioned Kara (kalyle) of Hamilton, ON. Good timing Kara!

So this is from Pat, who drove in this week and dropped off a stack of stuff. This blanket is extremely huge, and I think we will send it to the shelter in Iqaluit.

These slippers will also be great in the shelter - thanks, Pat!

More pretty hats from Pat. I put the smaller ones towards Arviat.

And these guys are going to Arviat for sure. The balaclava is going to make some child very happy.

I dropped by Yarn Forward, and asked them if there had been any drop-offs for us. Apparently the CBC story got a few folks to get their needles to work for us and the timing could not have been better! All of the items above (and in the next couple of pictures) were made in children's sizes and dropped off anonymously.

We love you, Anonymous Yarn Forward Knitter!

Plentimawfish had her needles clacking - the yarn was beautiful, fine and warm. Some little girls are going to be very happy!

More from Plentimaw. I call this "Find the neck warmer".

And on another note: we got an email from the Qimaavik Women's Shelter in Iqaluit. They run a 21 bed shelter for women and children fleeing violence and Sivummut House, a 12 bed shelter for women and children who are at risk of homelessness. They are looking for the following items:

toothbrushes

toothpaste

combs

brushes

lip balm

purse size hand creme.

If we can get our hands on those items, we have shipping arranged to get them to the shelter. I think of these things as those little things that make women and kids feel "normal" when they are going through a tough time. We'll be sending up some hats, mittens, blankets as well.

The days are getting shorter, and the Christmas lights are coming out. I love the spirit of my town at this time of year - kindness abounds. Hugs to all of you.

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Gathering Warm Knitting for Cold Places

Our Projects for 2016/2017

We are gathering and shipping hand-knit hats, socks, mittens, gaitors, sweaters and blankets (no scarves please!) for 3 great causes:

1. We are shipping to Jimmy Hikok School in Kugluktuk, NU in January 2016 and again in September 2016. This project is targeted to kids Grade 6 and under.

2. We are shipping to elders and children of Nunnavut via shipments which go up to a clinic in Iqaluit via physicians who fly there each quarter. We have started sending boxes at least every 3 months for this project, targeting 150 pounds per shipment.

3. We are shipping to a women and children's shelter in Iqaluit. This shipment is ongoing.

We collect in Ottawa and Toronto, through our yarn stores and special events (see below for more information). You can mail or drop off your items there. If you have a specific project to which you would like to contribute, please let us know, by attaching a label to your item. If you provide your name or contact info, we'll post a picture of your item on this site!